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 The shift into virtual meetups: How we did it (and how you can too)

If you've ever thought of organizing virtual events for your organization, you're possible to conclude that this is the best time to begin. There is a demand for connectivity as well as learning and development.

Let's face it, there's no better setting to explore different ways of engaging with your viewers.

In the beginning of 2020, after an overwhelming success at our very first gathering at Irvine, CA, our team for brand experience set out to bring meetups across the country to major cities in the United States. The venues were chosen. Hotel rooms and flights were booked. The good news is that our Denver meetup went off without a hitch.

Then the global pandemic hit.

And, like every other enterprise We had to change to change and cancel carefully-planned events. We devised alternative plans to hold 10 virtual meetups in one week. Each meetup will take 1 hour, rooted in community building, strategizing, and sharing our successes in the world of online businesses.

After just two hours of beginning registration, we hit our capacity.

Since we've hosted monthly meetups since We've learned a few important lessons to assist you in planning your own group activities online.

Check out the interview where Brand Experience Coordinator Regan Taylor discusses her experiences and highlights the best moments of recent meetings:

• The origins of virtual meetups (0:22)
• We tried two formats (2:27)
• making plans and letting things go organically (4:15)
• advice from Hero Sara Moseley (5:24)
• advice on advice from Hero Kayse Morris (6:42)
• the reasons why breakout rooms work well for building the community (8:08)
• How to convince shy people to participate (10:46)
• advice from Hero Dave Gambrill (13:09)

6 tips to hosting value-packed, relationship-building virtual meetups

 1. Define the exact purpose and the subject of the occasion

In a one-hour timeframe, discussions can get scattered if you don't define an objective in the beginning stages of planning. Think about what you want your attendees to go home with after the event. Would you like your participants to gain knowledge, have questions answered, meet potential collaborators, share ideas, practice a skill before a large public?

When you know the goal of the virtual meeting, you'll gain more clarity when designing the format and the program for the event.

2. Expert panel discussions. breakout rooms

If you're looking to teach your audience, having experts speak on panels is an effective way to do so. It is best to schedule some time for questions to give a more interactive experience.

If your goal is to create a sense community and encourage networking small breakout spaces with 4 to 6 people can be extremely beneficial. People naturally feel more comfortable with smaller-sized groups and are more likely to talk about their experiences. And because each person gets more time to talk and share ideas, discussions within breakout rooms tend to go deeper.

3. Make use of Zoom's auto rooms assignments

It's not necessary to fret over how to split up your participants. Zoom offers a function that assigns individuals randomly. To make sure that the group are on track, you should prepare the document that includes discussion questions and make sure you distribute it in advance.

4. Send multiple reminders with the hyperlink to the event each time.

Imagine how depressing it would be if you attracted a high number of registrations, only to find that a lot of users couldn't find the URL at the very last minute. The ability to make the link accessible might sound like a simple task, but it's easy to underestimate how many times people need reminders with the same information.

Do not be ad-hoc with your email reminders and make sure to add a functioning "add to calendar" button on each occasion. Send a reminder an hour or less before the event.

5. Get feedback regularly

In fact, IT Cosmetics Founder Jamie Kern Lima recently said, "Feedback is a gift regardless of whether it's difficult to receive It's always a gift."

Follow up every virtual meetup with a survey and let the attendees know how vital that feedback is to the planning of future live group meetings. Then, you'll be able to keep iterating your virtual meetups exploring new ways of organizing them, and making your meetings better than previous.

6. "Ready, fire, aim"

If you think the benefits of a virtual meeting could help your business, the best option is dive into. At some point, you must stop researching and start testing. Our expert panelist and Hero Dave Gambrill said, "It's never going to be just the way you want it to be." Get started with the knowledge that things will get messy.

"That is how to succeed," Dave said. "You must just go. Instead of ready, aim and fire, you need to do ready to fire, aim, and target."